1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of Machine-to-Machine (M2M) type communications (MTC), and more particularly to managing MTC devices in an MTC network environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Machine to Machine (M2M) type communication (MTC) is currently being discussed in the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) forum, and the requirements for M2M architecture have been specified. Typically, an MTC network environment includes a plurality of MTC devices, an MTC network having a plurality of network cells, and a plurality of MTC servers. One or more MTC devices periodically transmit MTC data intended for an associated MTC server to the MTC network, such that the MTC network communicates the MTC data to the intended MTC server. For example, a smart metering application may the MTC devices to send their data around the same time (e.g., every hour or during a limited time period during off peak hours). However, when a large number of MTC devices are trying to access the MTC network at the same time, a huge amount of resources would be effectively wiped out. Even the MTC devices may suffer from Random Access CHannel (RACH) failures due to successive contention failure.
In order reduce wasted resources, existing time controlled access solutions schedule the MTC devices to wake up at a scheduled time and transmit the MTC data to the MTC network. Upon transmission, the MTC devices go to sleep when the MTC devices are scheduled to sleep based on a static timer value programmed in a Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) card installed in each of the MTC devices. Since the timer value is static, the MTC network has no control over the number of MTC devices accessing the MTC network at a single point of time, thereby affecting the performance of the entire MTC network system.
In another existing solution, the MTC devices go to sleep and wake up to transmit the MTC data based on system information communicated by an associated network cell on which the MTC devices are camping. However, the MTC devices may need to continuously keep reading system information to determine whether the MTC devices are allowed to access the MTC network at a given time.